Modern Vampyre
by amateurartist
Summary: A romance story of an old-time vampire girl Bella getting over the death of her true love Edward , and finding new love in the modern-day world.
1. Prologue

Modern Vampyre

**By Lauren Hodgson**

_Prologue_

On December 15, 1863 at exactly 10:13 am, a straggler Confederate Vampyre pulled Vanessa Roberts from her swing next to the ice covered pond that sat, unused next to her husband's and her small, warm cottage in Newton, Virginia and sunk his teeth into the pale flesh just above her laced collar. Almost instantly the venom from the vampyre's fangs reacted violently with her red, human blood and she began convulsing violently and coughing up green, red and blue blood and venom on the powdery, white snow. The ice hissed as the colorful mixture sank and melted away the cold surface. Unable to do anything but cough up more and more blood and bile, the man slung her onto his shoulder and ran away from her home towards the dense pine forest adjacent. Vanessa's eyes fluttered open and close as her white blood cells struggled to hold onto her life. Her body collapsed from the effort of fending off the quick-spreading Vampyre disease and she closed her eyes as it eats away at all of her bodily systems and her heart stopped, forever.

That December 22 of 1863, Vanessa Roberts had woken up to find a handsome young man, looking to be near her age of 17, straddled over her and staring down inquisitively. Inhaling quickly, she squinted up from the sun's glare and met his gaze and saw large, beautiful, and unending black eyes, the unknown young man exhaled deeply into her jaw-dropped mouth. His breath mingled with the smell of pine, snow, and an extremely sweet flavor completely new to her. The sweetness singed her core and burned her parched throat like fire and her eyes widened in the mixed pain and pleasure

He slid himself to an uncomfortable crouch to her right; all the pleasantness of his face gone, it contorted into a scowl as muttered, "Oh, so now you wake up," his scowl arched into a suggestive smirk and he said, "I didn't know it just took arousal."

Vanessa gasped in embarrassment, but her cheeks did not fill with the familiar warmth of blood as she blushed and said, "I am not aroused! You just...smell...nice. And...Can I have some water, my throat is killing me."

He laughed, low, throaty, and smiled at himself, like he knew something she didn't, and said, "You need water no more."

Vaguely remembering something, she rubbed her finger around her neck and reached two small holes. Then it all came rushing back and a hot tear slid down her cheek.

"Huh? Wh-What's wrong? I was only joking!" he said silently, but insistently.

She looked away from him and angrily shouted, "Be gone! Whatever horrible creature thou are, take me back to my home!" She could no longer hold back her frustrated tears and they rolled off her cheeks.

With a sigh, the mysterious guy pleaded, "I am a Vampyre, and if you could just calm down you will realize what has happened. Take a big breath of this cold air; it will heal your uncertainty, Vanessa."

"How do you know my name, quit talking to me like that, you...you monster!" she screamed.

He chuckled again and stood up to lean against a tree. Nonchalantly leaning against the trunk, he showed his fangs and licked the inviting, red liquid on them with a quick flick of his tongue. The gesture was imperceptibly fast to a human, but Vanessa saw it and felt an unfamiliar singing in her throat for the second time.

Finally coming to her senses since she had slept for a week, she thought aloud, "So you are a...a Vampyre...and now...so am I!" Remembering her throat, she grasped it with her cold hands and said, "blood...that was blood..." she meekly added looking up at him, "Can I have some, please!"

"Stand up, feel the cold, and tell me how you feel."

Doing exactly as he instructed, she stood up and instantly felt refreshed.

"Come now, follow me" he instructed.

On their way through the forest to find what he liked to call, "the hunting ground," he apologized for turning her into one of the undead and explained the pros and cons.

"First, I would like to introduce myself. I am Charles Smith of Gettysburg, Maryland and I died at the age of 19, in 1823, and have stayed as a Vampyre for 40 years now. I joined the Confederate Vampyre army three years ago, in 1860, and ran away a week ago, to find you when I was completely empty of blood and thus, I risked exposure to humans and the sun to bite you." he said.

"Well, Hello there Charles. I am 17, I never wanted to stay 17 but I died and became a Vampyre anyway! And so close to Christmas, what will Louis think when he sees me, bless his heart." she began to cry again.

"Oh, but, he cannot see you, never. All you are to them is damned and soulless. For anyone who has ever known you, you mysteriously disappeared and never came back. You may have come back to life, but your old life will not continue." he said this all with a hard face, but as she began to cry again, he sighed, "Trust me; It's better this way. Now be quiet and watch as I hunt this deer."

Vanessa Robert's life changed forever that year, as Charles taught her how to hunt for blood, how to resist blood, that sunlight weakened her heightened senses, and everything he knew about Vampyres but mostly that she must forget who she was and now will live forever as the empty shell of that person, constantly seeking a purpose in life. She often complained about missing her old husband, Louis, and liked to watch him through the windows from the cover of the trees, without telling Charles, but deep down, she had been unhappy. Their marriage was arranged by her parents while they left for the north to escape the Civil War's worst. Before, uselessly trapped in that house to bear children and wait for Louis to return bloodied, from battle; she truly had been unhappy, but now! now she could feel freedom, there were rules but she felt powerful for the first time. She was quick, strong, fierce, and had better hunting skills than even Charles. Together, they had traveled through the forests of the south and avoided humans completely; and Vanessa eventually forgot her friends, forgot her husband, forgot her parents, and fell in love with Charles and embraced her completeness with nature. Vanessa's high spirits and love changed Charles, once a morbid Vampyre soldier, into a caring and happy man. They were two lovers, incubus and succubus, Dracula and Susan, or Romeo and Juliet. Vanessa rarely cried now and life was simplistically beautiful, but beauty could not last.

One morning, Vanessa woke up, high in a water oak and looked over to wake up Charles. Surprisingly, he had gotten out of his "bed," but he usually slept later than her. Jumping deftly off the branch, she made all of the calls they had used to find each other while hunting. "That's weird," she thought, "He should be able to hear me...unless." Unless he was in this one cave he had showed her a few months ago where the river rapids sped by and frothed over the large boulders. Skipping from one to the other across the river, she reached the cave and was, again, awestruck by the beauty of the quiet it offered after the loud rush of the river. "Oh no!" she said to herself as she saw why he was nowhere to be found, or rather a hastily written note of explanation.

_My dearest Vanessa, The Confederate Vampyre Army finally found me after_

_the long year I spent learning to appreciate what we are. Before I made you,_

_I was a sardonic youth lost in the world, not worth even one prey squirrel's life,_

_but you changed me and I shall love you forever; this is Goodbye._

_C. S._


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1:_

_A New Beginning_

_Pop! Squilch...Pop!_ _Squilch!_

Brushing thick black strands away from her face, Vanessa Roberts hesitantly stepped out of the light and into the dark hallway searching in the darkness for the source of the noise. A melted, indistinguishable mass of puke green goo oozed itself toward her like a slinky. Every time it popped up from its suctioned hold on the stone ground below she heard a _Bwalk_and then a disgusting _Gwalk_as it landed down again. Released from her-deer-in-the-headlights trance, Vanessa screeched, "AAAHHH!" and tired to run away, but every time she turned around, the blob was no farther than before.

_Squeal!_The rickety metal bed beneath Vanessa protested loudly as she bent forward quickly, her back ramrod straight and neck aching with strain. She panted heavily at the memory of her nightmare and could see her breath in the cold air of her empty, musty basement. Vanessa reassuringly repeated, "Monsters don't exist, Monsters don't exist," but she did not believe herself; she was the monster she ran from. Standing up from her bed with another _Squeech,_she shivered in shock, not from the below freezing air. Instead, she began to smile as the cold air passed through her thin tank top and shorts and refreshed her body and purged her mind of self hatred; an instant relief, it was her form of cocaine. In Newton, Virginia (made up), even during August, snow fell and normal civilians were snuggled up in their warm furry coats, rarely daring to go outside except for work or school; but Vanessa was not normal, and she had not been since 1863. Vanessa had lost her creator and beloved, but stubbornly waited decades for him to come back. She had searched all of the known Vampyre hideouts, and even some unknown. With him gone, she saw no purpose to life and tried suicide almost daily, but she was truly immortal.

Over the years, she had acquired this house, unused except for the basement, numerous Fake IDs, since her date of birth was January 11, 1846, and loved video games, the Internet, and World of Warcraft. She was a typical human nerd-child with too much time on their hands, except she would always be a teenager. "Hmm..." she though, "I bet I could survive in space, since I do not breath air, so I really will live forever." She groaned at the horrifying thought and then trudged over to the kitten calendar on her desk, groaning again, she realized tomorrow was the day she had vowed to try to assimilate as much as possible into..._gasp_...human high school! Vanessa stared at the stranger on her newest ID, "Who do you think you are? A normal teenager? Ha! Go rot in your basement like you usually do, you coward." It read, Vanessa Marie Roberts, her actual name, but everything else was wrong.

Vanessa had tried to assimilate before in Richmond, Virginia, but her education was barely above a third graders and she failed all of her classes, not to mention she rarely had time to hunt and had accidentally attacked a teacher who tutored her. Not wanting to create a vampire, she had tried to suck her venom out of his veins and then brain wiped him of the experience. The memory still hurt to think about. Discouraged, she had taken a four year break, conveniently when the Xbox 360 had come out, and then took online courses. After graduating "sophomore year," by online standards, she thought she would try becoming a junior at Newton High, and so here she is, biting her nails nervously, finally going. She wanted a future, it was terrible to be stuck at an age, forever, when she was supposed to have dreams of college, jobs, drinking, and guys; but could have none.

After pacing nervously, Vanessa could stall no longer, and began to prepare like a giddy teenage girl, with no fashion sense. Overjoyed at America's transition from dresses to sweat pants, she had little "girly" clothes. Tossing articles and articles of baggy clothing onto her bed she thought morbidly, "So much for fitting in." She settled on jeans and a long sleeve turtleneck with a hooded trench coat and large sunglasses (to avoid the sun). Seeing her reflection on her rarely blank TV screen, she labeled herself as the stereotypical "emo" and shrugged, "Oh well," she thought, "at least people won't waste their time talking to me."

Testing out the sun's rays in the floor level of her house, Vanessa left the house with her keys and locked up. Glad for the immense cloud cover, she nervously whistled an old Confederate Vampyre tune that Charles had hummed as she walked down the road, feeling like a soldier walking into battle. She wish she had not looked up the way to the school a million times so she could get lost and not go, but her feet betrayed her and she soon found herself in a large cement opening with hundreds of shiny new cars, and rusty old cars. "Oh fuck," she thought seeing all of the teenagers. The variety of people astonished her, a group of stoned-looking kids sat outside of the parking lot, two girls wrestled on a square of grass nearby, grabbing hair and scraping faces, some muscle guys tossed a foot ball back and forth over the entry steps, some girls were even doing yoga, walking down the main sidewalk, various tough-looking kids nodded in her direction, probably assuming she was some gang member. "LOL," she thought and then sighed, "I better not say that out loud." She felt the joy rolling off all of them, even the depressed looking ones, and their lives, seemingly simple, confused her with their vulnerability, sensitivity, and hostile emotions. Being a vampire and all, she did not have the teenage hormones that fueled their lives, and she realized that would set her apart largely if she acted cold.

Suddenly, something banged Vanessa hard in the head and she winced, turning around angrily, she saw an adorable little blond rushing over to her. Bending over to pick up a white, plastic disk, she grabbed my hand, shrinking back at the coldness, and said,

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay? I didn't mean to, I j-just tried to throw it and th-then..."

Vanessa stopped her mid-sentence and said, making sure to not show her fangs, "I-it's okay! Don't worry."

"Oh, you must be the new junior girl, I'm Naomi Walters!" Seeing the confusion on Vanessa's face she added, "at a small school like ours, you're the only new girl this year, so we all noticed! Welcome!"

Her words echoed in Vanessa's head, "only new girl...only new girl." "Oh gosh," she thought. "Umm...Hi Naomi. I'm Vanessa. Vanessa Roberts."

"Ooh, what a pretty name. Oh! This is my brother Phil, 'Phil!' she shouted.

Vanessa turned around to see another blond kid rushing over.

"Sorry about the Frisbee!"

Vanessa realized that must be what they were calling the disk that hit her, what a strange name. "Ah...It's ok."

"Just wanted to make sure you hadn't been hit too hard, considering your actually talking to my little sister." He playfully ruffled her hair and said, "but she's only a year younger than I am, I'm a senior." He said it like it was the coolest thing in the world and Vanessa had to fake cough to cover up her laugh.

Just as she felt some small pang of belonging, a loud _ding! ding!_rang throughout the school yard and Vanessa couldn't help yelping in surprise.

Laughing at the noise, Phil said, "Well, see you girls later, gotta get to class. Oh, and welcome Vanessa."

Vanessa showed Naomi her schedule and asked, "Do you know where this is?"

It turned out they had three classes together, Biology being first, so they headed over together. When they walked in, a stern looking woman said, "Oh so you're the new student! Take off those sunglasses immediately, it's highly disrespectful!"

Not bothering to argue back, Vanessa took them off slowly and the class could not hold back a loud gasp, her eyes were blood red from her recent hunt, there was complete silence as their instincts made them fear her. After a few moments, they each mumbled a "hey" or "hi" or just gossiped to their neighbor about how scary she looked. Vanessa sighed, they had no idea she could hear every word they said.

A random guy asked her as she followed Naomi to a table in the back of the room, "Do you wear color contacts? Those are totally awesome, dude! Uhh... I mean Vanessa."

"Uhh..yeah, thanks." Vanessa replied lamely.

Naomi was extra nice and Vanessa could not help but to assume she had no friends in the class. She leaned over often to mumble some explanation on inside jokes she had missed out on and actually filled Vanessa in on a lot of names and rumors of the others. The class turned out to be behind what she had learned online and she took notes diligently, even daring to smile once or twice. As soon as she exited the classroom, she put on her sunglasses and looked at the ground, blinking rapidly. She lasted the next two classes without her and wanted to refresh a little before lunch where the number of windows were quadrupled and to not reveal she did not eat, yet at least, the nerd in her had calculated it earlier. She looked around the hallways, empty except for a few senior looking guys, and snuck out the front doors. She walked around the building until she found a nice shady spot. Closing her eyes as she leaned against the cold bricks, she took a fresh breath of unessential air and searched in her deep pockets for a cigarette. "Huh?" she thought, "Oh fu-!" she swore aloud, but stopped when she realized someone else had stolen her spot and yelped in surprise.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." the stranger mumbled in a low, gravelly voice. He held a cigarette and exhaled a long column of smoke inches from her face.

"It's ok, didn't mean to take your...uh.. spot." she said quietly, avoiding his deep, brown eyes, barely visible below a sweep of disheveled, black hair, like him...

"No! Don't think of the past!" she told herself silently.

She heard a low, throaty laugh...also quite familiar..."It's OK. You seemed to have forgotten something." He handed her a cigarette identical to his own.

Unable to hold herself back, she gripped his jaw as gently she could and said, "Open your mouth." with a little Vampyre Influence laced in between each word.

Wide eyed, he grabbed his cigarette and opened his jaw as far as it would go. Vanessa inspected his canines, finding nothing unusual and sighed sadly. "S-sorry I thought you were some...someone else." she said pitifully.

Instead of exploding at her, he just laughed his tantalizingly beautiful laugh again and said, "So you looked in my mouth?"

She tried to sound unaffected by it and said, "Ummm...He-They! had a uh...gold tooth, so I was just checking to see if you were them, they had disappeared and all."

He did not press her anymore and said, "Okay? Well, sorry to disappoint you." Actually sounding sorry.

For the next ten minutes, neither talked, not out of awkwardness but a silent peace agreement, forcing Vanessa to think. "Ahhhh," she thought, the cold air and smoking eased her body and mind of pain and she even slid her jacked away from her shoulders and rolled up her sleeves. "Why does he look, and act, so much like him? It feels like torture!" she thought angrily. She was snapped from her inner turmoil as she realized he was staring at her. "Why am I so unobservant around you?" she thought as she stared back in his eyes.

"Damn! You're skin!" he said, astonished.

Thinking her skin had begun to bubble from the exposure, she looked down and said, "What?" in her confusion, and relief.

"It's just really pale, I didn't mean to offend you! It's beautiful really, so smooth like...like snow."

"Oh, thank you." she said awkwardly, and then the end of lunch bell rang, saving her from his attention. "Bi!" she said quickly, stomping her cigarette in the cement and running off pulling her sunglasses, hood, and sleeves back on.

All she could think of for the rest of her day, as Naomi whispered questions about where she had gone, was him. It was only before slamming her locker door shut to head for PE with Naomi and Phil that she realized she did not know his name. "Maybe I can ask him tomorrow, if he is there again." she thought, "Probably not, he would not want his girlfriend or whoever to get suspicious." She tried to distract herself with aimless conversation about sports with Phil, but she could not stop wondering, "Maybe he does not have a girlfriend...No! Him? Impossible..." but she wanted it to be true. "What's so great about him?" she thought, "He's just an exceedingly handsome, human guy who happens to look a lot like your ex-boyfriend/soul mate. Uggh! This is NOT making me feel better."

When Naomi showed her to the locker room and helped her find her combination and number, she hastily apologized for leaving her and told her where the gym for basketball was.

"Sorry!" she said, "I have to go to soccer practice on the other side of the building, gotta go! Bi! Have fun!"

Vanessa watched her go, her high ponytail swinging over hear thin, graceful shoulders. Naomi had nice, tan legs that always made Vanessa jealous, and a cute, curvy figure. She had never complained about her figure until now, she had no visible muscles, but superhuman strength, smooth, pale legs, and a tall, gangly body, but unnatural grace, "Oh well." she thought, for the millionth time that day.

The basketball coach started off with simple passing drills with a partner. Looking around the room for a vaguely familiar face, she found someone staring at her, "Oh no!" she thought, it was him. Their gazes locked on to each other's for several long moments, and turning around she realized they were both alone. Groaning with giddy apprehension, she walked over to him and said,

"Partners?"

"Sure." he replied, with no trace of emotion.

They did not talk, mostly because Vanessa was determined to play basketball, at least a bit, well; Vanessa assumed he thought she was a freak and was mad at being stuck with such a terrible partner. She tried hard, but failed miserably although Vanessa had a lot of hand-eye coordination from video games. She could never control power while dribbling and it often sprang high up, allowing the defense to take it away, or she would throw too light to a teammate and cause them to have to dive for it. Even if she could control her strength, she lacked the coordination necessary. "I can kill a full grown mountain lion, but I cannot throw a rubber ball in a hole?" she thought morbidly, "I guess my Vampyre abilities do not include human sports, or socialization without Influence, or school."

After Vanessa's partner realized her silence and grim facial expressions were actually from her incompetence at basketball, he smiled frequently and offered her tips while laughing at her failed attempts. Vanessa felt at ease with him, laughing and smiling together, oblivious to the other students' glares; she felt like she had known him forever, not just that day.

Walking back from the gym in pleasant silence, Vanessa wanted to call his name, but she still had not asked what it was, and he had not asked for hers. "Why did I feel so normal with somebody I knew little enough about to not know their name?" she thought, and asked,

"Sorry, I forgot to ask you, but what is your name?"

"Oh, I go by Charlie, you?"

"Vanessa!"

"Ok then, Vanessa, it was nice meeting you." he said in a mock formal tone.

"And you as well." she said, mimicking him with a curtsy.

He laughed again.

He turned around as Vanessa gulped in awareness of the sound, and headed for the boys' locker room, and then Vanessa headed to the girls'.

She walked home, taking a long route to enjoy the cold weather and emptiness of the streets. She felt a slight purpose in her life, a nice change to the emptiness of two hundred years of just following technology. She returned to her dilapidated home with a smile. As she put her coat on her old-fashioned rack, slipped off her heavy boots, and put her backpack down, her cat, Cornelius, padded over loudly to do figure-eights between her legs. "Alright, alright" she said down at him.

"Guess you aren't used to me being gone all day."

Vanessa poured Cornelius' food and sat down with a _Creak_ onto the old, white chairs in the kitchen. She turned on her IPod and speaker. Her favorite song, "Get Over It" by _Ok Go_ blared out and she could not help but dance around in her socks on the slippery tiles. She felt light and giddy and danced to at least three more songs without rhythm. Flushed and excited, she hurried over to her backpack to get started on all the homework she had accumulated. _Woah,_she thought, _now I understand why those internet bloggers complain about high school so much!_ She had a lot, but actually HAVING to do something felt nice for a change.


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2:_

_A New Friendship_

Tuesday and the rest of the school week went by in a flash as Vanessa got in the routine of chatting with Phil and Naomi before the morning bell, whispering with Naomi in Biology, skipping lunch to smoke outside with Charlie, then failing at basketball with Charlie as her partner, and finally coming home happy to do homework and blog all night. When Friday afternoon came, Vanessa was chatting with Charlie near the locker rooms, not ready to part with him and spend another lonely weekend feeling sorry for her damned self. All of a sudden, Charlie stopped talking and turned her around, his warm, slender hand sending goose bumps along her heated skin as they grasped her shoulders; she now faced two intruders:

A blond cheerleader Barbie strutted their way with a sly smile on her pouty, pink lips, behind her, almost just a shadow, a very large football-type shadow, stood a dreamy guy with surprisingly gentle, brown eyes and thick, chestnut hair that brushed just below his eyebrows and got longer around his ears. His endless, beautiful eyes met her gaze, but Vanessa immediately averted her eyes to her sneakers.

"What'cha doing all alone, Charlie and...." the Barbie said.

The girl was the first person to not have known Vanessa's name and Vanessa almost-rudely replied:

"Vanessa, Vanessa Roberts. Who are you?" her last question came out a little too harshly and the blond defensively replied:

"Me? Me?! I. Am. Sabrina Meyer, you know, my daddy owns Meyer Lumber Company. Only, like, THE biggest company in Newton."

"Actually....no, but I do now." Vanessa added sarcastically, biting back a laugh at the "daddy" comment, so this was the rich, snob girl of the grade.

"She's new here, give her a break Sabrina." Charlie added from behind Vanessa, as she had almost forgotten about him. He stepped in front of Vanessa in a protective gesture, not that she needed his protection from this east-coast valley girl.

"Hi, Vanessa, I'm Matthew, Matthew Green, but everybody calls me Matt." the gorgeous guy said softly as he stepped in front of Sabrina and held out his hand for Vanessa to shake.

Stepping out from behind Charlie, Vanessa took his smooth, tan hand in hers and felt a _Zzzzing!_ as his touch sent sparks through arm and down her entire spine. "Hi Matt, nice to meet you." she smiled as steadily as she could and released his hand, realizing perhaps she had held it too roughly.

"Wow, strong grip you have." Matt said as his eyes widened and he cutely sucked on the curve between his thumb and index finger. averting Vanessa's eyes to his full, pink lips, life-giving blood pulsing just below the thin sheet of skin, _so perfect for kissing_, she thought.

_WTF?!_Vanessa thought to herself, _Perfect for kissing?! You mean to drain blood out of! Quit daydreaming!_

Realizing she was staring, Vanessa found his eyes and forced herself not to look down at her shoes again. Saving her from utter destruction, Charlie tightly grasped her puny upper arm and said:

"Well, 'Nessa and I were actually about to leave, so catch up with you two later!"

"Ok then," Sabrina said recovering from Matt's betrayal of speaking nicely to the new kid, "Ta-ta! Come on Mattie"

"Yeh. Bye Charlie, Vanessa." He smiled apologetically at her before little-miss-high-and-mighty grabbed his arm and yanked him away.

After walking farther down the hallway, Vanessa yanked her arm free of Charlie's hand and said too harshly:

"Ouch! Damn, what was that all about? Couldn't stand socializing with anyone? Is that why you hide behind school every lunch hour?" As soon as the words came out, she regretted them and said: "Sorry that was a terrible thing to say..."

His sad eyes met hers and said with a sigh:

"No, you're right. I rarely talk to anyone but you and I guess there is a reason for that. Sorry for ruining your chances with the football star. I have to go, See ya!"

With that he turned around abruptly and walked off. She saw him ball his fists at his sides. Vanessa just stood there, tongue-tied, and watched his back turn into the boys' locker room. It was too late to apologize now and Vanessa just whispered:

"Wait." at the door Charlie left through.

She solemnly trudged to the girls' locker room where she gathered her things for the weekend and headed out. Absently dragging her feet and kicking acorns and pebbles out of her path, Vanessa bumped into someone's very hard chest.

"So sorry!" she said quickly, before she backed away and looked up. Her gaze met Phil's kind face and warm smile, he looked angelic and innocent as usual despite his big muscles and looming figure. Phil was extremely handsome, but different from the rugged charm of Charlie. Vanessa's heart panged remembering the look of sorrow on his face when she had yanked her arm from his grasp.

"It's OK, what are you doing back from basketball so late?" he said, sliding his large hands into his jeans pockets nonchalantly.

"Is it that late? Oh, oops! I guess I just took my time..." she said, trying hard to return his friendly smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a black figure walking across the soccer field, which then stopped to look up at her through his rough dark hair. She waved at the figure, Charlie, and told Phil:

"Sorry, gotta go! See ya Monday!"

"Bye!" Phil yelled,

but she was barely heard him as she was already half way to Charlie, making sure to run at a human speed. Reaching Charlie before he could blow her off again, she played the part of being human and hunched over, huffing and puffing.

"Hey...Wait...Please" she said in between breaths as she began coughing, not on purpose now.

Charlie immediately lost his solemn look and said: "Woah! Vanessa, you really should stop smoking if you are gonna sound like this! You sound like a dying donkey!" he bent down in front of her face just as Vanessa stuck her tongue out at him and said:

"You're sure one to talk!" she playfully punched his arm and they both sat down on the grass, laughing. It was amazing how fast they forgot that they were mad at each other. Vanessa spoke first,

"I'm truly sorry for yelling at you, and I don't intend to hook up with Matthew Green."_Although she wished she could…NO! _she said to herself. "Nooo way! I was just...shocked at how roughly you treated me and how rude you were to him and Sabrina." It took guts to say it, but Vanessa got it out and was glad she had apologized instead of just blowing up at him again.

"Damn, you're right again...I just have a history with Matt, and I didn't want you to fall for his trap."

"Wh-what history?" she stuttered, her damn habbit when she got nervous reoccurring from her childhood.

"Eh…nothing much. We were great friends through elementary and middle school, but he ditched me freshman year, I guess I wasn't cool enough for him or some shit."

"Oh, I see. There's no…trap I have fallen into." _Never mind that I have already kissed him a dozen times in my thoughts,_she thought to herself.

"Yeh, anywhoo...what are you doing this weekend?"

"This weekend?" _Well Charlie, I was going to fly up to the north pole and prey on large, endangered animals so that I don't try to drain all of your blood on Monday:_was the real response, but she just said,

"Nothing much, hanging out and doing homework. Maybe going camping."_I mean hunting, but hey! at least I wasn't lying completely!_ she thought.

"If you're not too busy...do you think you would want to come over and...uh...play videogames or if you're not into that, watch movies?"

"Video games? Are. You. Kidding. Me? I love video games! Sure thing, when?"

"I thought you were gonna call me an Uber-Nerd or something...how about Saturday evening? My mom won't be home so we can play as loud as we want."

Thinking about what he said, she remembered him briefly talking about his parents' rough divorce and his mom's lack of parenthood and work-a-holicism._At least we both almost live by ourselves,_ she thought bitterly, trying hard to remember what it had been like to have a family.

"Sounds cool," Vanessa said quickly, trying not to sound reluctant. "here is my cell phone number, just call me when it's good for you." she reached into her backpack and grabbed some paper and a pen, scribbling down her cell number that she barely used.

"Thanks!" Charlie said excitedly.

They walked the rest of the way to the front of the building talking about the videogames she should bring and what rank they were on Xbox Live.

"You drive?" he asked, Vanessa guessed he wanted a ride.

"Nah...too expensive...you?"

"Nope, I'll walk with you though!"

Together, they took a right and headed down the road adjacent to the building, until he said,

"Well, this is my stop! Bye, see you tomorrow!" he waved at her and unlocked the gate, running up to the door.

Looking up at his home, a lump formed in his throat. It was a large, new looking home, unlike Vanessa's creaky, small one, but Vanessa was happy to notice how neglected the garden looked, much like her own. _I'll have to get used to going in other peoples' homes,_she thought. Charlie stopped at the door and waved a second time,

"Bye Vanessa!"

"Bye!"


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3:_

_Inhuman Error_

_He's just a human boy_, Vanessa said to herself as she frowned lips and stared at herself in her closet mirror, indecisive of what to wear, while at the same time convincing herself a relationship would never work out. With her wanting his blood, and him wanting...well...whatever boys want, there was no way she could keep her true nature a secret. Saturday evening had come too soon, Charlie had called and shyly asked if she could come over, but Vanessa had not had time to hunt enough to avoid major blood lust and barely agreed. With much further debate, she decided on black pants and a black _Korn_ band tee, _So Original!_she told herself. Vanessa fed Cornelius, drank a bag of blood from her almost-empty fridge, making sure to lock the doors. _I never lock my door, I guess because I never leave my house, _she thought.

Vanessa walked stiffly, a multitude of thoughts whirling around her head. _What will we do? Crap! What if my fangs peek out and he suspects me?_ Millions more came through her head, until a dark memory from her past came back to haunt her.

It was New Year's eve, ten years ago. Vanessa had spent the evening drinking hard liquor in a bar in a shady area of Newton. When she finally gurgled down her last shot, only stopping because she was out of money, she had swaggered out of the bar and into a dimly-lit street behind it. She walked down the street, meaning to find an intersection she recognized and head home, but near the dumpsters of a closed restaurant she saw the silhouettes of two people, one stalking towards the other, and the other stepping back. Quietly nearing the scene, she began to be able to make out the people's figures with her night vision. One was a hairy middle-aged man with a lot of muscle and a blunt stick in one hand and the other was a small, fragile lady, maybe in her mid-twenties. Vanessa watched as the burly man stepped closer and closer to the frightened woman who shouted "Help! Somebody, please! He's going to hurt me! SOMEBODY HELP!" Her voice became louder and more frantic as the man grinned evilly and lifted his weapon above his head.

"I only want to play with you. Com'ere" The brute said in a rough, broken voice.

"Never! HELP, SOMEBODY."

The man leapt toward her and pressed his dirty palm against her gaping open mouth, muffling her pleas, when, all of a sudden, Vanessa burped loudly. The man immediately turned around, his wild eyes searching the darkness.

"WHO'S THERE?!" he screamed.

When no sound replied to his frenzied remark, he looked at the woman, and then back down into the darkness of the street Vanessa had been walking on only moments ago, his head turning from side to side. Fight or flight instincts taking over his mind. The ugly creature shoved the woman down with one heavy hand and bolted in the other direction, looking back several times. _I guess he chose flight._ Vanessa thought bitterly, barely disturbed by the violent scene she had just witnessed.

The woman, muddy and bruised from the criminal's forceful treatment of her, began to sob, a painfully loud noise that forced Vanessa to avert her attention to the small thing in the middle of the road. Vanessa's cold, un-beating heart immediately softened and Vanessa groaned as the unfamiliar need to comfort another being rushed through her, along with a weakness she could not allow herself to feel, pity. Vanessa slowly walked over to the lady, trying not to frighten her, but the woman was too caught up in her own cries to notice the approaching threat.

"Hello?' Vanessa said.

The lady slowly looked up at Vanessa, her teary eyes searching for comfort. Vanessa was shocked to find that the "woman" she pictured was actually only a teenage girl, probably sixteen or seventeen years old. Seeing herself in those saddened, lonely eyes, Vanessa sat down next to the girl and wrapped one arm around her shoulder in what she hoped was a welcoming gesture, allowing the girl to put her small head onto Vanessa's shoulder and continue to cry. The two sat like this, neither one able to speak, for several minutes until the human grabbed Vanessa's hand and gasped loudly.

"Y-y-your hand is so-so cold." she whispered shakily.

"Yeh, it's usually like that." Vanessa replied, entering the girl's mind to plant calm, content feelings.

The effect was immediate as the teenager closed her eyes and sighed,

"That was you who burped, right? Y-you saved my life. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, tell me, what is a young girl doing out alone at night on New Year's?"

"I wasn't alone, before I was with my friend, Madeline, but she got wasted and followed some random guy out of the club across the street. I tried to follow her to tell her to stop, but that…man…you saw tried to take me home with him. I refused, but he followed me all the way over here. I really thought he would r-rape me, but he turned away when you burped." her gaze dropped down to her bloody feet.

_Bloody?!_ Vanessa thought, gazing down at the girl's high heels she noticed that she had a large cut across her big toe from when the man had pushed her to the ground. _How had I not smelt it before?!_ The sweet, crimson scent enveloped Vanessa and tempted her to drink. Vanessa gulped as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead, _No way am I drinking from this innocent girl._

"What's your name?" Vanessa asked.

"Mary, you?" she asked shyly, surely not the type of name or person to go clubbing on New Year's eve.

"Vanessa…Where do you live anyways? I want to escort you safely home."

"That won't be necessary."

The girl smiled wickedly and pulled a wooden stake from her nearby handbag, thinking she could slay Vanessa, obviously aware that she was a Vampyre. Vanessa's eyes widened as she slammed the girls hand down and pinned her arms to the ground, growling in fury.

"How dare you!" Vanessa slammed her fangs into the girls neck as she thrashed around below her, kicking and screaming obscenities.

"Get off me!" The girl screamed, trying to no avail to push Vanessa off of her, unaware of how futile her attempts were. Vanessa continued to feed, easing the girl's pain with relaxing feelings and endorphins from her bite, but the girl continued to struggle as Vanessa saw her face loose all color and gently drop to her side. Vanessa completely dried the girl of blood, so that she could not awaken as a Vampyre.

As Vanessa returned from the horrible memory, she saw the teenagers eyes, filled with hatred, once again. Since that new year's eve ten years ago, Vanessa wondered about the girl. She knew of a small number of families who passed down stories of the Confederate Vampyres and raised their children as Vampyre hunters, _The_ _Protectors_ they had called themselves, but she still did not know whether the man had really almost raped the girl, or if it had been all some cruel trick to lure Vanessa out into the open. Either way, Vanessa constantly looked around Newton for signs of hunters and, even ten years later, worried about opening up to humans who could actually be Vampyre slayers. It seemed silly now to think Charlie could be one of _The Protectors_ and she tried to smile at herself for suspecting him, but all she could think of was how strangely similar he looked to Vampyre Charlie.


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4:_

_I Guess I should have mentioned that before…_

Vanessa was near tears when she finally saw Charlie's house come into view. After a decade passed, the memory of that seemingly innocent girl haunted Vanessa of her past and reminded her that some humans just could not accept her kind. Had she asked to become this creature? This heartless monster who cared only for their own wellbeing. _Well, _she thought sardonically, _I am not heartless, my heard just stopped beating a long, long time ago. _She glanced up at his house, surprised to find it shrouded almost completely in darkness, besides a small spark of light shining through the window in an upstairs room. She rubbed at her eyes and walked slowly to the door, but jumped when she heard a loud, "Meooowwwrrr!!!" Wide eyed, she turned around to find an orange ball of fur hissing at her, her little back arching up and tail sticking up as straight as possible. _Poor thing, _she thought. Both Vampyres and cats were "creatures of the night," who were not used to being snuck up on. Vampyres were some of the few beings who could startle a cat and, unlike Cornelius, Vanessa assumes this orange kitty resents that. "Sorry little guy," she says, slowly crouching to its level in hopes of assuaging its chagrin. The cat gracefully makes it way towards Vanessa, displaying in its proud swagger that it was better than her. Once she was close enough, Vanessa reached her hand out tentatively for the cat to sniff and accept, or reject and claw at. Vanessa felt a cold, wet nose tickle her hand and she began to gently pet the cat's head. The cat closed its eyes and reveled in the feeling, clearly uncaring that Vanessa smelled of Cornelius or that she was unnaturally quiet. A cold draft rushed past her and she remembered her purpose of coming. She stood up, feeling remorse as the cat looked sadly up at her, clearly wanting the company. Vanessa shook her head at the cat as she walked up to the door.

Vanessa rapped her fist against the door once, but it swung open, revealing that it had been unlocked. The house seemed empty, she heard no noise: no computerized gun shots or explosions, not even music playing in the background. She gulped in apprehension and quietly called, "Hello?" no reply. "Charlie? Somebody?" Nervous, Vanessa glanced back at the cat, hoping it belonged to Charlie and she could invite it inside. Understanding her wishes, the cat ran into the house and began walking around the house. Curious as to where Charlie was, Vanessa followed the cat around the downstairs, noting the colonial furniture that was clearly expensive, but old and worn out, as if used too heavily for too long. "Hello?" Vanessa called again, but there was no reply. The kitty led her back to the base of the stairs in front of the door. Vanessa remembered the light she had seen and hurried up the stairs at an inhuman speed. Taking three steps at a time, she reached the top and stormed into the lighted room, not worrying about walking in on anyone.

There, on the floor, Vanessa saw Charlie writhing in agony, his eyes squeezed shut and mouth flapping open and closed, quiet gasps escaping his pale lips. Vanessa felt adrenaline rush through her cold, dead body as she struggled to keep from bursting into shrieks of rage and fear. She ran to him where he was bunched up beside his bed and smoothed his hair away from his forehead and put his head in her lap. "Charlie," she cooed, "I'm here, tell me…what is going on? Let me help you." He said nothing but began coughing violently, clearly unable to speak. Vanessa looked around her, frantically searching for an explanation to his current state. Then she saw it, the unmistakable "L"-shape of an asthma inhaler. She reached over and grabbed it, fumbling the orange plastic in her sweaty hands. She heard heart wrenching sobs, loud and frequent, but it took her a while to realize she herself was making them. She pushed the inhaler into Charlie's mouth and squeezed the medicine releaser. Her other hand had already snaked into her pants pocket and grabbed her phone. She dialed 9-1-1 and sadly noticed that the inhaler was not assisting her dear friend Charlie. "Charlie. Charlie. Charlie!!!" she repeated loudly. She heard soft padding on the rug of his bedroom as the orange fur ball ran in and sat by Charlie, her tail whipping his face. As Vanessa holds her cell phone up to her ear and stroked Charlie's brow, she looked into the kitty's eyes and saw that it, too, was concerned for the boy.

"Hello? Hello? This better not be a-" the male voice at the other end of the line called before Vanessa cut him off,

"Sir! Thank you, no this is not a prank. I am located at 54 Rubin Street and I'm with a boy who is going through a serious asthma attack. Please, help him. Please. Please." She repeated her plea several times

"Mam, calm down. We sent paramedics and an Ambulance down your way. Stay calm and keep your eye on the boy. Mam, Mam! Calm down, everything will be O.K. It's only asthma."

"You don't understand!! It's Charlie. Charlie, my fragile Charlie."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

I knew I was wrong about you

Vanessa woke up when a small movement under her head jostled the covers of the hospital bed. Lifting her head from its awkward position on Charlie's bed, she looked up to find him awake for the first time. He smiled down at her, clearly confused as to who she was and why she was hunched over his bed with a blotchy face.

"A-are you an angel?" he croaked, his voice hoarse from all

Vanessa stared at him for a second in disbelief before bursting out into laughter. She shakily handed him a glass of water from a cheap, plastic table beside his hospital bed.

He stared at the glass until looking up at her and saying, "Am I in heaven?"

She continued to laugh, in relief that he was alright, but shocked at the irony of her, damned and worthless, being called an angel and a hospital being called heaven.

"No Charles, You are in a hospital after suffering from a severe asthma attack." She shocked herself in calling him Charles, but realized the name fit his soft, friendly nature. He was exceedingly similar to Vampyre Charles, but that comforted her instead of scared her.

"Oh. Oh yeah." he said in between sips of water.

She looked down at his pale, unsteady hands, noticing how they cupped the glass so weakly yet firm enough to keep it from slipping out. He reminded her of herself, barely holding on to her humanity.

"Charles, why did you not tell me you had asthma? And why, dear god, do you smoke so much?"

His eyes met hers and crinkled up as he smiled goofily and said, "Hey Nessa" as if this was a normal incidence. Then, recalling her questions, he slowly answered. "I-I don't like people to know, I hate pity. Stop looking at me like that." Just like that, his kind eyes turned to resentment as he spat the last words out and frowned up at her.

"I don't pity you, the look you see is only love. I-I care for you, Charlie. When I saw you doubled over in pain, my heart broke and I realized how deeply I have come to care for you in the little time I have known you."

He stared up at her in shock and amazement. "I care for you as well."

A single, salty tear slid down Vanessa's nose and landed on his cheek. Vanessa looked down at Charlie for a second longer and then hugged him with as much love and caring she could muster. The doctors had asked her if there was anyone Charlie could contact, a parent, or relative, but she replied that there was no one available but her. Clearly confused, the middle-aged man assumed she was his girlfriend and left the room, leaving her to wait for Charlie to awaken.

Vanessa remained in the embrace with Charlie until she felt and heard a soft cough. She jerked away, scared she had hurt him, but he only smiled at her. She heard a soft knocking at the door.

A nurse in bright pink scrubs walked over to the foot of the bed and looked at Vanessa apologetically. "Sorry, but Mr. Samson needs his rest, and it seems, my dear, that so do you. Head home, we will try to contact his mother."

Vanessa merely nodded at the woman, she had found Charlie's driver's license in a wallet in his pocket. She realized then that she had never heard his full name before: Charles Alexander Samson.

"I gotta go Charlie, but I will come see you tomorrow, I promise."

He nodded at her and smiled at the nurse. _Geez, _she thought, _How was this boy so kind when he had such a rough life?_

By the time she was back in the cold air of the outside, she realized that she had never thought of the New Year's Eve incident the whole time she comforted Charlie. _I never believed that he could harm me. _She thought, shocked at her own words saying that she felt love for Charlie. Vanessa was not IN love in the way of a couple, but felt that any misfortune that befell Charlie, would hurt her. She realized she would do anything to keep that warm smile on his cherubic face. _I knew I was wrong about you._ she said to his hospital room, the only window lit up in the dismal, gray building.


	7. I HAVE MOVED TO FIGMENT

I HAVE MOVED TO FIGMENT!

please follow me, comment, and heart! /users/13607-Lauren


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